It's probably not a bright idea to write a journal entry when I'm drunk.Just got back from dinner and drinks with Chris, my best New York friend. Jeez, I do love New York in the Summer. The warm, sultry evenings where you can wander around in just a t-shirt with the absolute security you're not going to freeze your ass off (unlike San Francisco). And the streets are full of life.

I arrived in New York last night, on a horribly humid evening, after three rather restful days in our headquarters in the south, where I was getting some long overdue training. Although it was humid in our headquarters in the south, and the sun never came out, I enjoyed the greenery and the peace of the countryside. I went running three times in the private woods belonging to the president of our company, and was completely alone (a novel experience compared to San Francisco) apart from the occasional deer or rabbit.

The training was thoroughly boring - I could have sent my designated point-and-click person and learnt just as much. The only diversion was Eric, a gorgeous straight guy with whom I've worked before. He was sitting in front of me, and I'd get aroused by just staring at his muscular back sheathed only in a thin cotton shirt. We had lunch together the first two days, and got into talking about working out. He told me that since he'd had a kid, he hadn't been able to work out as much, but that he used to weigh 185 (which is a lot considering his 5'10 height), and he was very muscular. At which point I practically swooned.

The people on my company's campus, almost all of them from our headquarters in the south, are a nice bunch, on the whole. But the campus seems like a gigantic baby manufacturer - they're everywhere. And as soon as there's a break, it seems the entire class is swapping notes on the latest dumb and dumberer thing their baby has done. At the airport too, lots of babies running around screaming, followed by their fond parents indulgent stares.

I remember the first time I visited our campus, and stayed in the same Embassy Suites, five years ago. I described the room then as "very comfortable". Well, I'd say it's still comfortable, but now I'd add the description "shoddy and cheap". I guess a year of business travel to New York has changed my standards somewhat. Still, civilization has finally arrived in the form of Starbucks and the New York Times in the hotel store.

Overall on this trip, I've been in a good mood. I've been very conscious of how lucky I am. Of how easy and full my life is. Now that I'm an elite level member of various airline and hotel clubs, the rough edges are taken of travel, and I breeze through it all. And to have the opportunity of travel, on a relatively easy schedule. To enjoy where I'm visiting. And to come home to an increasingly rich life (in the social sense) in San Francisco makes me quite happy about where I'm at right now. Of course the two margharitas and a follow-up cocktail that I consumed with Chris tonight are no doubt fueling my pleasant feeling of settled happiness.